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The NBA playoffs will end a years-long title drought. The only question is: whose?

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The NBA playoffs will end a years-long title drought. The only question is: whose?

The NBA Conference Finals begin Tuesday. Depending on the outcome, several years-long title streaks will come to an end. (Left to right): Anthony Edwards of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Tyrese Haliburton of the Indiana Pacers, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks

Ellen Schmidt/Getty Images; Lauren Leigh Bacho/NBAE via Getty Images; Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images; Brian Fluharty/Getty Images


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Ellen Schmidt/Getty Images; Lauren Leigh Bacho/NBAE via Getty Images; Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images; Brian Fluharty/Getty Images

The NBA’s parity era is officially here.

When the postseason’s conference finals begin Tuesday night, four different title droughts are on the line — meaning one of them is guaranteed to come to an end next month when the NBA Finals wrap.

Three of the teams remaining in the playoffs — the Indiana Pacers, the Oklahoma City Thunder, and the Minnesota Timberwolves — have never won a title in their current hometowns. And the fourth team — the New York Knicks — haven’t taken home a championship in more than half a century.

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The New York Knicks have not taken the title since 1973, and it’s been more than 25 years since they reached the Finals. Oklahoma City hasn’t tasted the title series since 2012 — and if you count the achievements of the Seattle SuperSonics before the team moved to Oklahoma in 2008, then the Thunder are the most recent remaining franchise to win it all, with a title in 1979.

The Pacers were a powerhouse in the American Basketball Association in the early 1970s but haven’t won a ring since joining the NBA. The Timberwolves, founded in 1989, have never reached the Finals.

“It’s one of the most wide open years that we’ve seen,” Indiana head coach Rick Carlisle said after the Pacers’ series-clinching win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. “We’ve got to look at this thing as — just being very opportunistic.”

The NBA has long struggled with parity. Since the 1980s, one dynasty has often simply given way to another — from the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers to the Chicago Bulls to the Lakers again to the Miami Heat to the Golden State Warriors. In total, 23 of the NBA’s 78 champions have been back-to-back winners. Another 14 teams won a title a year after losing in the Finals.

But those numbers have plateaued since 2019, when the Toronto Raptors unseated the Golden State Warriors.

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Pascal Siakam, a 31-year-old forward with the Pacers, got a taste of glory that year. That was his third season in the NBA, and Siakam assumed he’d reach the Finals again with the Raptors, he recalled earlier this month. But the Raptors weren’t able to repeat, and he was traded to the Pacers last year.

“I can sometimes sound like I’m trying to kill the party, where everyone wants to be excited and I’m just like, ‘Man, I want more,’” Siakam said. “We have a real opportunity, and we can’t take it for granted.”

Many of the remaining players are fresh faces, too. This is a Conference Finals round with no Steph Curry, no LeBron James, no Kevin Durant, no Anthony Davis or Russell Westbrook or James Harden.

Instead, the four teams are fronted by a younger generation of superstars: 28-year-old Jalen Brunson (New York), 26-year-old Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Oklahoma City), 25-year-old Tyrese Haliburton (Indiana) and 23-year-old Anthony Edwards (Minnesota).

Gilgeous-Alexander was still in high school when the Thunder last reached the Conference Finals. Ahead of last Sunday’s series-deciding Game 7 against Denver, he said afterward that the pressure had started to feel intense.

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“I turned my phone off, honestly. I wanted to, as best as I could, block out all the noise,” Gilgeous-Alexander said after the Thunder’s clinching win over Denver. “The nerves sat in my stomach for the two days [off].”

The Thunder and Timberwolves tip off for Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals on Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. ET. On Wednesday, the Pacers and the Knicks open the Eastern Conference Finals. The winners of each best-of-seven series will advance to the NBA Finals, which begin June 5.

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Man Charged With Posting Bomb Instructions Used in New Orleans Attack

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Man Charged With Posting Bomb Instructions Used in New Orleans Attack

Federal prosecutors have filed charges against a former Army serviceman they accused of distributing instructions on how to build explosives that were used by a man who conducted a deadly attack in New Orleans on New Year’s Day last year.

The former serviceman, Jordan A. Derrick, a 40-year-old from Missouri, was charged with one count of engaging in the business of manufacturing explosive materials without a license; one count of unlawful possession of an unregistered destructive device; and one count of distributing information relating to manufacturing explosives, according to a criminal complaint unsealed on Wednesday. The three charges together carry a maximum sentence of 40 years in federal prison.

Starting in September 2023, the authorities said, Mr. Derrick was using various social media sites to share videos of himself making explosive materials, including detonators. His videos provided step-by-step instructions, and he often engaged with viewers in comments, sometimes answering their questions about the chemistry behind the explosives.

The authorities said that Mr. Derrick’s videos were downloaded by Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, 42, who was accused of ramming a pickup truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans on Jan. 1, 2025, in a terrorist attack that killed 14 people and injured dozens. Mr. Jabbar was killed in a shootout with the police. Before the attack, Mr. Jabbar had placed two explosives on Bourbon Street, the authorities said, but they did not detonate.

The authorities later recovered two laptops and a USB drive in a house that Mr. Jabbar had rented. The USB drive contained several videos created by Mr. Derrick that provided instructions on making explosives. The authorities said the explosives they recovered were consistent with the ones Mr. Derrick had posted about.

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Mr. Derrick’s lawyers did not respond to requests for comment.

Mr. Derrick was a combat engineer in the Army, where he provided personnel and vehicle support, the authorities said. He also helped supervise safety personnel during demolitions and various operations. He was honorably discharged in February 2013.

The authorities did not say whether Mr. Derrick had any communication with Mr. Jabbar, or whether the men had known each other. In some of Mr. Derrick’s videos and comments, he indicated that he was aware that his videos could be misused.

“There are a plethora of uh, moral, you know, entanglements with topics, any topic of teaching explosives, right?” he asked in one video, according to the affidavit. “Of course, the wrong people could get it.”

The authorities also said that an explosion occurred at a private residence in Odessa, Mo., on May 4, and the occupant of the residence told investigators that he had manufactured explosives after watching online tutorials from Mr. Derrick.

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Mr. Derrick’s YouTube account had more than 15,000 subscribers and 20 published videos, the affidavit said. He had also posted content on other platforms, including Odysee and Patreon. Some videos were accessible to the public for free, while others required a paid subscription to view.

“My responsibility to my countrymen is to make sure that I serve the function of the Second Amendment to strengthen it,” Mr. Derrick said in one of his videos, according to the affidavit. “This is how I serve my country for real.”

Outside of the income he received through content creation, Mr. Derrick did not have any known employment. He did receive a monthly disability check from Veterans Affairs, the affidavit stated.

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The Girls: “This isn’t ringing alarms to y’all?” : Embedded

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The Girls: “This isn’t ringing alarms to y’all?” : Embedded
Allegations pile up, but Child Protective Services declines to investigate and the school district continues to promote Ronnie Stoner. We include an update at the end of the episode. “The Girls” is a 4-part series from the Louisville Public Media’s investigative podcast, Dig.
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Chud the Builder, Known for Racist Confrontations, Charged With Attempted Murder

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Chud the Builder, Known for Racist Confrontations, Charged With Attempted Murder

A streamer known for hurling racist slurs in public settings under the nickname “Chud the Builder” was charged with attempted murder after a shooting outside a Tennessee courthouse on Wednesday, the authorities said.

The streamer, Dalton Eatherly, 28, was involved in a confrontation with an unidentified man that escalated to gunfire outside the Montgomery County Court in Clarksville, about 50 miles northwest of Nashville, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. Both men sustained gunshot wounds and were in stable condition, the office said.

In addition to attempted murder, Mr. Eatherly was charged with employing a firearm during dangerous felony, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon, the sheriff’s office said.

Mr. Eatherly, who is white, has accumulated an online audience by livestreaming confrontations in which he uses racist language toward Black people in public.

Law enforcement did not provide any details about the second man involved in Wednesday’s shooting. Mr. Eatherly posted an audio recording online of paramedics treating his wounds in which he claims he shot the man in self-defense.

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A video posted by the website Clarksville Now shows Mr. Eatherly on a stretcher with a microphone attached to his lapel.

Mr. Eatherly is being held at the Montgomery County Jail, pending arraignment, the sheriff’s office said.

According to court records, Mr. Eatherly was scheduled to appear for a court hearing on Wednesday morning in an unrelated case brought by Midland Credit Management, a collections agency.

A lawyer listed in court records from a separate harassment case in which Mr. Eatherly was a defendant in November did not respond to a request for comment.

On Sunday, three days before the shooting in Clarksville, Mr. Eatherly was arrested in Nashville. According to a police affidavit, Mr. Eatherly live streamed his meal at a restaurant, Bob’s Steak and Chop House, on Saturday even though the restaurant had asked him ahead of time not to do so.

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When he was confronted, Mr. Eatherly “became disruptive and started making racial statements, yelling, screaming and otherwise creating a scene,” according to the affidavit.

He then refused to pay for his $370 meal. Mr. Eatherly was charged with theft of services, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. He was released on $5,000 bond.

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